


In Search of the Stars

by syzygy_mellifluous



Series: New Dream Appreciation Week [1]
Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:22:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24238756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syzygy_mellifluous/pseuds/syzygy_mellifluous
Summary: Rapunzel and Eugene set off in search of the stars, but they find themselves talking more about the sky’s other inhabitants.
Relationships: Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel
Series: New Dream Appreciation Week [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1749514
Kudos: 12





	In Search of the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! My name is Cass (I know, I know) and this is my contribution for Day 1 of New Dream Appreciation Week - Sun and Moon! Fair warning, I (dumbly) haven’t watched seasons 2 and 3 of Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure, so while I have the gist of what happens, I haven’t actually seen it. Most of my contributions will be based on the movie or a Modern!AU. This is a Modern!AU. It’s more of a drabble than an actual fic. I hope you like it!

It was a chilly evening in September - a night they had been planning for weeks. Bundled up in sweaters and blankets in tow, they’d set off in search of the stars. And it was hard to disagree that lying in the middle of a field in Montana was one of the best decisions they’d ever made. 

They were clouded by darkness; the only light source was from the illumination of the moon, glowing above them. For the longest time, they were silent; appreciating the beauty of the night sky. The only noises that could be heard were their contented sighs, and the ambient sound of crickets chirping in the distance. They laid side by side, shoulders touching and hands entangled together. 

“Eugene?” Rapunzel finally whispered, shifting onto her side so she could look at him.

“Hmm?” He hummed in response.

“This was one of the best ideas we’ve ever had.”

“I agree,” he chuckled, turning towards her. “We should’ve done this sooner.”

“The sky is just _so_ pretty. Look at the all stars! And it’s so easy to see the constellations.”

“I wish the sky looked like this at home,” he added.

“Me too,” she agreed. “I wish we could just look out the window and see this all the time.”

“I guess that’s the consequence of living in a city. Light pollution.” 

Unfazed by what he just said, she continued to gush about the sky. “And isn’t the moon so amazing?”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Yeah it is. You know, when I was a kid, I thought it was made of cheese.”

“Really?” She giggled, springing up. 

“Well, look at it,” he said pointing at it. Her eyes eagerly followed his finger. “It’s white and it has craters in it - it kind of looks like it could be a wheel of swiss cheese.”

She nodded. “I can see it now that you say that. When I was a kid, I used to talk to the man in the moon.”

“Oh yeah?”

“I always hoped that one day he would answer,” she replied sheepishly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. 

“Well it must’ve been hard for him to hear you - the moon is like a billion miles away, after all.”

She playfully shoved his shoulder and he laughed in response. “Actually, it’s _only_ 238,900 miles away,” she responded smugly, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at him.

He threw his hands up in surrender. “I forgot I was talking to an astronomy expert.”

“I’m not an expert,” she grinned. “I just read a lot of books about astronomy as a kid. And an adult.”

“The only thing I read as a kid were comic books. Not very educational. Well, I guess there was one book I liked to read, but it was fiction, so it's kind of a moot point.”

She laid back down and rested her head on his shoulder. “I used to have a copy of _Goodnight Moon_. So I guess I just figured if I was saying goodnight to the moon, it was for a reason.”

“I didn’t have that book, but one of my favorite things to do when I was a kid was sneak out on summer nights and just look up at the sky - kind of like what we’re doing now.”

“I wish I knew you when you were a kid,” she murmured, snuggling closer to him. “I think we would’ve gotten along.”

“I could’ve used a friend like you, but I was a much different person then.”

“You know what always made me sad?”

“What?”

“That we can’t just look up at the sun.”

He furrowed his eyebrows together. “What do you mean?”

“I’m sure the sun is equally as beautiful as the moon, but we can’t look directly at it. If we look directly at the sun, it hurts our eyes and makes it so we can’t see - which is ironic, because we need light to see in the first place.”

“Huh, I never thought of it that way.”

“It’s always there, but we never actually _look_ for it, you know? Like, imagine if the sun was as appreciated as the moon and the stars - if we could just lay around looking at it and appreciating its beauty.”

“I suppose that would be called sunbathing,” he quipped.

“ _Eugene_ ,” she smirked.

“I’m teasing,” he chuckled. “But you’re right. No one sits around talking about going sun-gazing.”

She sighed. “Because it’s impossible. Unless there’s an eclipse or something, it seems like no one pays attention to everything the sun does. Could you imagine living life without the sun?”

“You’ve got me there, babe. I guess it would be dark all the time?”

“Dark. And cold. We wouldn’t have any plants, which means that we wouldn’t have any food.”

“So the sun is the ultimate source of life.”

“Exactly! We wouldn’t be alive without the sun.”

“So, tell me then, what’s the deal with the moon? Nighttime light source?”

“Well, for one, it controls the ocean’s tides. But the moon helps to stabilize the earth’s rotation; without it, we wouldn’t have seasons or day and night.”

He smirked, impressed by her knowledge. “And here I was thinking it was a big, pointless ball of cheese. How do you remember all this stuff?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “I retain a lot of pointless information.”

“Hey now, I wouldn’t call that pointless information. You know a hell of a lot more than I do,” he said, squeezing her hand.

She gave him a small smile and they laid quietly for a few moments.

“You know what I just realized?” He wondered aloud, breaking the silence.

“What?”

“You said you were sad because we couldn’t just look up at the sun like how we look at the moon. But, I may have thought of a loophole.”

Her eyebrows furrowed together. “Sunglasses?”

He laughed. “No, no. We can’t look _directly_ at the sun, but we _can_ watch it rise and set.” 

“Eugene! You’re a genius!”

“I wouldn’t call myself a genius,” he chuckled. “But, well, they can be a little overlooked. Who wants to wake up early _just_ to watch the sunrise when you can watch it any day? Who wants to stop what they’re doing _just_ to watch it set, you know? But then we get busy or lazy or forgetful, and the beautiful thing just...slips away.”

“You are quite the philosopher, Eugene Fitzherbert,” she grinned. “I didn’t even think about the sun rising or setting, which literally proves your entire point.”

“You flatter me too much, sunshine,” he chuckled. 

“It’s true though! I wonder if you were a philosopher and I was an astronomer in another life,” she giggled.

“That would explain an awful lot about us then, huh?”

She nodded, shivering slightly. “Definitely.”

“You getting cold?”

“A little,” she admitted. “But I’m not ready to leave yet.”

“Not ready to say ‘goodnight’ to the moon?”

“Nope,” she smiled, cuddling closer to him.

“Well, if we get back to the hotel at a reasonable hour, maybe we can get up early enough to say ‘good morning’ to the sun,” he pointed out.

She narrowed her eyes, smirking. “I hate when you do that.”

“Do what?” He asked, feigning innocence.

“Try to entice me with something you _know_ I’ll want to do in order to get me away from something else that I’m enjoying,” she said. “Because you worry that I’ll overdo it and not speak up if I’m uncomfortable because I just want to keep doing the thing that I like.” 

“Rapunzel, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he shrugged.

“Mhmm, I’m onto you” she mused, a smirk still plastered across her face. “I also know that you value your sleep and hate waking up early for anything.”

He chuckled. “You got me there. _But_ , I did say that the sunrise gets overlooked because no one wants to wake up just to watch it - including myself. But one day won’t kill me, right?”

“Nope,” she smiled, shifting slightly. “Race you to the car?”

“You’re on!” He yelled, scrambling to his feet. 


End file.
